Walk round any town or village in Tenerife and you'll notice how many bars and restaurants there are.

No matter how small the establishment, you can be sure there'll be a kitchen providing an extensive menu of excellent food.

This is the beauty of traditional Tenerife dining. The venue may, in all honesty, look like an absolute dump, but the food is always made from fresh ingredients and...delicious!

Here's the ultimate beauty of it: the price is invariably dirt cheap!

Of course, to avail yourself of these rough-and-ready traditional restaurants, you have to avoid the main tourist areas. Eating places there will always push up their prices to fleece the holiday visitor.

Next time you're going out for a meal in Tenerife, why not take the plunge and try one of these traditional places - you won't regret it!

-----------------------------------------------------------------

John and Alison Visit a Restaurante Típico

The last time we were in Tenerife, Alison and I popped up to Las Chafiras to visit a charming little traditional restaurant called Casa Pedro.

When we lived in Tenerife, we'd gone there quite regularly, but, since moving back to the UK, had not visited for years.

We were greeted by the Spanish, or Canarian, waiter and shown through to the dining room, which, as were there quite early, we had to ourselves.

At Casa Pedro, there is no menu. All the food is on display, ready to be cooked and the waiter takes you through it. In the past, the waiter on duty has spoken good English, but the one we had this time...didn't. I had to bring my meagre knowledge into play and we got by. Hey! That's part of the fun!

The meal was great and we eventually adjourned to the other room for coffees. At this point, a very pleasant thing happened. Pedro, the proprietor (as in "Casa Pedro") came over and greeted us like long lost friends. As I said above, we'd not been in for years and it was really nice he remembered us.

On payment of the bill, we were treated to two small glasses of liqueur, on the house - one more reason that it's nice to go for the traditional dining experience.

All in all, a very enjoyable experience.

Casa Pedro is featured on my website:

http://www.tenerife-information-centre.com/casa-pedro.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Polvorones - a traditional Tenerife Christmas treat

This is the Spanish word for almond biscuits and these tasty items are eaten traditionally around Christmastime. They can be shop-bought, but it's more fun to make your own!

Ingredients

1½ cups of flour

generous amount of raw almonds (available in Tenerife supermarkets)

125 grams of butter

demerara sugar (to taste - don't be afraid!)

½ teaspoon of cinnamon

1 egg yolk (optional, for binding - it makes things easier!)

Preparation

The flour has to be "toasted". You place it on a baking sheet and put it in the oven (heated to 180 degrees) for around eight minutes, shaking the sheet occasionally.

This is then removed and the almonds must be also be toasted. On another baking sheet, they should be placed in the oven until they start to brown. Thereafter they should be reduced to small granules in a food processor.

After turning the oven down to 130 degrees, mix the flour, butter, sugar and cinammon in a bowl until the mixture is like a cream. Then add the almonds and egg yolk, combining them all together. You are left with a crumbly dough.

This dough should be pressed together into a ball, then flattened out into a square with a rolling pin. Use a pastry cutter to cut out portions of this dough and, using a spatula, carefully take and place these individual portions onto a baking sheet.